Chapter 2: New Arrivals
After it had happened once, there was no stopping it.
Bobby got a total of two months' respite before he got the phone call from John. Vampire nest in New York, a group of them was going in, could Bobby pretend to be their FBI superior on the phone and take care of the kids?
A year passed like that, and then he got the call from Ellen, saying that she'd heard that Dean and Sam were staying with him, could her 5-year-old daughter please stay with him for a while as well?
Then the scrawny boy who showed up at his door with a backpack on one shoulder, and said "I'm supposed to stay here for a week." And then, almost as an afterthought, "I'm Garth. Hi."
So it went on, and by the time that it was Jo, Ash, Garth, Dean, and Sam, Bobby stopped complaining and started charging. The auto yard was turned into a kid's paradise, full of interesting junk and things they probably shouldn't be playing with. Bobby let them paint a wooden sign and hung it over the door, which proudly proclaimed that it was now 'Bobby Singer's Daycare'.
It was actually more like a boarding school, but he didn't really feel like explaining that to all the kids, so it didn't matter. If they said it was a daycare, that was what it was.
Bobby's days were once filled with weapon cleaning, drinking, and going through old picture albums while drunk enough to pretend that it didn't hurt. Now, they were filled with running after maniacal four-year-olds, teaching six-year-olds how to load shotguns with salt rounds, and trying to focus on making dinner while five kids trashed the furniture in the living room.
There was no room for routine in the chaos that was child-care, but Bobby did his best. The breakfast bell rang at 8, and someone would always have to be sent to drag Dean downstairs, and there was classes until lunch, and then free time until dinner, and then reading a book until 7:30, at which point the younger kids were sent to bed, and the older ones got to stay up and watch TV.
And some days, that routine was completely interrupted.
Ooooo000ooooO
"Bobby, Dean said 'bitch' again!"
"No, I didn't! He's lying!"
"Dean, you did too."
"Shut up, Sam!"
"Jerk."
"Bitch."
"He did it again, he did it again!"
"Bobby, make Garth stop singing, it's soooo annoying."
"Bobby, Bobby, look at what I found!"
This was a normal day, and Bobby traversed the kid-filled living room easily, stopping to briefly scold Dean (with a parting wink, of course), going over to Garth and asking him to please go outside if he wanted to sing, because Bobby had a headache, and then crouching down to look at the tiny frog that Jo was holding in her cupped hands, car grease staining her cheeks and shirt.
That was when someone knocked on the door.
"I'm going to get that," Bobby told them. "Dean's in charge." Most of the kids listened to Dean, in the same way they would follow the orders of a drill sergeant. Bobby often took advantage of this fact when he was busy.
He left the still-shouting group of kids behind him, hoping that nothing would get broken while he was gone (the sound of something crashing against the wall made him doubtful). He opened the door.
"Bobby Singer?"
Well, you didn't hear many accents like that around here often.
"Yes. What?" Bobby asked gruffly, focused on trying to hear whether anyone in the living room was crying yet.
"I've been told that you specialize in child care for the supernaturally inclined."
"That's one way to put it." Bobby finally directed his full attention towards the man in the black suit, and immediately noticed the three girls attached to him, one holding either hand, and one happily sitting on his shoulders.
"Good. I am done with these insufferable brats, and I'm giving them to you." The man extracted his hands from their grasp, with some difficulty, lifted the other girl off his shoulders, and then pushed them all up the steps towards Bobby. "Good luck. I'll be back in a few days to check on them." A slight pause. "Maybe." And before Bobby could even open his mouth to say something about his fees… "Ta, darling."
Bobby stared at the spot where the well-dressed man had been standing, only a second earlier. He stared for a little longer, and then decided that he just didn't want to know. He looked down at the three girls, who were looking around curiously.
"Who are you, then?"
"Meg," the one in a purple T-shirt said distractedly, peeking around his legs to look down the hall.
"Ruby," said the one in the jacket, and resumed whatever she was doing with her nails.
"Abaddon," the last one said, and looked up at him with a bright smile.
Bobby thought he might be getting in over his head.
Ooooo000ooooO
"ASH STOLE MY PHONE AGAIN!"
"Meg brought another dog in, and it just peed on the carpet, maybe you should clean it up?"
"The DVD player is broken!"
"OW! ABADDON JUST BIT ME!"
"RUBY SET MY DOG ON FIRE AGAIN!"
"Get off me! Ouch! Stop!"
"Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!"
"Hey, stop swearing!"
"WHO'S A BITCH?"
"HELP, BOBBY!"
Oh, yeah, life was fantastic.
So Bobby dumped a bucket of water on the dog, extinguishing the fire, and confiscated Ruby's lighter (God only knew where she kept finding them all). He gave Abaddon a long lecture on biting that she smiled and nodded her way through, making it clear that she wasn't listening at all. He poured stain remover onto the couch, and gave Meg her hundredth reminder that there was a 'no animals in the house' rule. He got Jo's phone back from Ash, knowing the young boy had probably already tampered with it, but unable to care at this point. He was just glad that Sam and Dean weren't here this weekend; then he would really be in a mess.
He was just heading back from the kitchen with a wad of paper towels in his hand, when he heard the all of the kids shout in the living room, then go silent. Knowing such a unified sound could only mean something majorly Not Good, he broke into a run.
Standing at the far side of the living room was a man, wearing a white suit. His hair was blond, and long enough to form perfect ringlets around his face, which was the sort of beautiful that you either want to stare at or punch repeatedly. Huddled behind him in the hallway were four kids.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Bobby asked, and stepped out in front of the kids he was in charge of.
"You are Robert Singer?" the stranger asked, completely disregarding Bobby's question.
"That's me."
"My younger siblings have need for a temporary home. I have heard that your home may be suitable. Were my sources incorrect?" The blond man tilted his head slightly to one side.
"Probably not. Are your kids going to be setting any fires, bringing home strange animals, climbing on the roof, or trying to kill the other kids?" (Since Meg, Ruby, and Abaddon had arrived, Bobby had added some clauses to his 'if you pay, you stay' hospitality.)
"I would hope not," the man replied, and turned to give his siblings a narrow look before facing him again with a beatific smile that definitely crossed the line into 'I really want to punch that face' territory. "I assure you, Robert Singer, they will behave like angels." He said it with an irony that made Bobby very nervous.
"Well, my rates are pretty steep for four kids. A man's gotta get by, right?"
"I assure you, money will not be a problem."
"How long are they staying?" Bobby asked, resigning himself to doing business with this strange and extremely annoying man.
"I will be back in two weeks to check on their adjustment to life on-" the sentence paused for a moment before continuing on a different track. "In your care."
"Two hundred, per kid, per week. Less than you'd pay for a motel and road food. And cash only." Most of his clients were Hunters, after all... Bobby certainly wasn't taking a credit card. The ethereal man drew several bills out of some unknown pocket in his suit jacket, and handed them over.
"That should be sufficient," he said. From what Bobby saw of the bills, they were more than 'sufficient', but he didn't comment, tucking them into his back pocket instead.
"And if I need to contact you?"
"My siblings will have to do it themselves. They are capable of calling me, if need be, but I hope that it will not be necessary." This time the warning look was to Bobby, and the older Hunter saw a spark there, in those steel-grey eyes, and it made him afraid in a way he couldn't quite put a finger on.
"Money, good, contact, good," Bobby said to cover the sudden silence. "How about some introductions for you and the kids?"
"My name is Michael," the stranger said, and inclined his head. He stepped to one side, and gestured the children out from behind him. "This is my sister, Anna." She was a red-haired girl who nodded to him quietly and then looked away as quickly as she could. "My brother, Luke." This boy had dark blond hair and blue eyes. When Michael tried to usher him forwards to meet Bobby, he batted his older brother's hand away.
"No!" he shouted. "I don't want to. And my name isn't Luke!"
"Fine," Michael sighed, and then crouched down to face his little brother. "Lucifer, we've been through this. You need to behave, or there will be consequences."
"I don't care." The young boy crossed his arms and shook his head. His older brother stood up again, and this time his tone was less patient and less brotherly.
"Shall I take you back to Father, then?"
"No," Lucifer mumbled, shrinking back.
"Well, then. Say hello to Robert Singer."
"It's just… Bobby," he put in.
"Hi, Bobby," the boy with the unfortunate name said, staring at his feet.
"And this is Gabriel," Michael continued. Gabriel was a tiny boy who bounced forwards to grin at Bobby around the sucker he had in his mouth, and waved enthusiastically. "And Castiel," Michael finished, stepping aside to reveal the final boy.
He was wearing a trench coat that was far too big on him, and he had wide blue eyes. He blinked at Bobby, and then ducked his head, clearly shy.
He's going to get trampled, Bobby thought unhappily, but he forced a smile.
"Alright," he said. "Four kids, two weeks, sounds like a plan. I'll see you around, Michael."
"You will," the man said, and showed himself the door. Well, at least he was more considerate than the man who brought Meg, Abaddon, and Ruby, who kept disappearing without giving a name or any way to contact him. The payment always showed up in the back pocket of Bobby's jeans, though, so there was no real problems.
Bobby was now surrounded by ten kids, all staring at each other awkwardly, and Dean and Sam were due to arrive in three days, on the same day that Ash was leaving. This is going to be a busy week.
A/N: Well, that's all for today, but the next couple chapters are already written, so if people review, you know, I could probably get them up pretty quickly... *hint hint* *nudge nudge*